Friday, October 5

The amazing L1500A Built up kit & the Parras surrender some new shots to us...

We have some of the latest test shots of the new (Mercedes-Benz)
L1500A WWII German softskin Personnel Car from MiniArt –
and we are open mouthed at the quality on store here – It looks like there is a
new major Player out there in the Armour stakes – Dragon beware – the guys from
the Ukraine are coming for you!!

MiniArt have sent us
details and built up test shots of their excellent (Mercedes-Benz) L1500A WWII
German softskin Personnel Car. It seem manufacturers from the Ukraine are
leading the way in filling the demand for the Softskin fans out there – well this
is another soft-top a bit more rugged than the 170V's we have seen, and it
looks better than the latest version from another manufacturer on the market.
Speaking of the market we also have the shots of the latest “Market Garden”
figure set as well - click on to see these and the pictures of the L1500A built
up, along with CAD images and other features of this vehicle.

The Daimler-Benz company designed the L1500A with an all-wheel-drive
chassis of 1,5 t capacity to be ready for the end of 1941. Most of these
chassis received open bodies for transportation of 7 men (Kfz.70). Here are the new pictures fo the test kit with it's simply amazing detail..

The vehicle was classified same as Steyr 1500A and Horch Typ. The basic type of body became Kfz.70, designed for transporting of 7 person including driver.

All in all there were about 4900 L1500A produced. These vehicles were extremely durable and reliable and soon became one of the favoured if rarer German softskin vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz L 1500A with Kfz. 70 was frequently as heavy
staff cars. L1500A personnel cars were
used by all German arms of service in the Soviet-German front, in North Africa,
Italy, and France up to the end of war.

Some CAD DRawings of the kit...

For bad weather condition the body was equipped with
retractable top and canvas panel, which could be settled on doors and sides.
The top here looks pretty good – I am sure it will be a challenge to mould with
any accuracy.

The Sprues..

Also different bodies were based on L 1500A and L 1500S
chassis, particularly fire trucks, radio cars and ambulances were produced on
the L 1500A and L 1500S bases. More often for radio cars and ambulances were
used 4x2 chassis.

The marking choices here will be plenty and I can see this
car being converted into many different types of vehicle.

This kit contains models of five figures made up of 62
parts. From the box art you can see what look like Luftwaffe gunners taking
prisoner some British "Red Devils" at the end
of Operation Market Garden. It will be interesting to see
if the paratroopers have full heads with helmets on or off giving you the
option to be "de-armed” properly by their captors.

It looks like MiniArt has stuck to this drawing and make the
captors Luftwaffe gunners like in this picture. You can tell from the
eagle on the captor’s right breast pocket.

Both of these kits will be on sale soon and we will keep you
posted when they land